Seemingly Debatable
by peanutdust
Summary: Through a sudden accident Hermione finds herself as the guardian of a young child and vows to protect and take care of him. Will she still feel the same when she finds out that it was not an accident but a murder that forced the child into her care and none other than Draco Malfoy has been identified as his godfather?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All Harry Potter related characters, places and themes belong to J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury and Scholastic.

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**Seemingly Debatable **

_Chapter One_

Hermione stormed through the office. Men and women hurried out of her way; the fire in her eyes and the set expression of her face were evident warnings for everybody to keep away. Each step she took oozed of confidence and innate female sexuality, the later she was completely unaware of, yet it sent every man gazing after her as she strode down the corridor.

"Excuse me I would like to see the Director _now._" She uttered to the quivering secretary who was unlucky enough to be dealing with a very enraged Hermione Granger. It was a fearsome sight, and a rare one as well. Hermione, if anything, always prided herself in making calm, clear decisions in any situation. This was what helped her through the war, through her volatile friendship with Ronald Weasley and mostly every encounter in which she as a young female muggleborn was discriminated against.

However now she had reached her threshold. She had entered the building at exactly 10.30 in the morning for a scheduled meeting with an architect. Magicap was a renowned building company that designed buildings to withstand and accommodate magic; Hermione was here to design a new house that would facilitate the new addition to her life. It was now 4 in the afternoon. She had seen at least 12 architects, all of whom upon hearing her requests gapped and stared as if she had grown another head.

"The director is busy-"

"Sorry?"

The poor secretary fiddled with the paperweight on her desk and blushed under Hermione's gaze.

"Err, you can go in but-"

Hermione did not wait to hear the end of the girl's sentence and strode into the office.

"Oh dear." The secretary murmured burying her head in her arms. An angry Hermione was terrifying but it paled in comparison of the anger capable from her boss. Perhaps this was not a good idea.

"Hello. I would like you to build a house for me which can accommodate child magic, my son is about six years old now." Hermione pulled herself a seat at the desk. Its owner was seated in a leather swivel chair and currently she was speaking to the back of said swivel chair. Without further introduction, Hermione bent down to rummage through her tote for her papers that briefly summarized all of her requirements as well as the statistics of the site where she wanted her house to be constructed on.

"I never took you for the marrying and family type-"

Hermione growled as she dug deeper into her bag for the stray documents that had been scattered in her bag during her frog march from office to office. It seemed as if that was all she had heard that day. Did she have a label announcing that she was anti-family stamped across her face? She could have excused the first architect who had blurted it out and then started to stare at her as if dumbstruck. However it began to become a bit repetitive when a similar experience resulted from the next six architects she had seen. By the twelfth architect she was fuming. One of life's lessons Hermione's mother had drilled into her from young was that if you wanted to get something done, you had to do it yourself, and if that failed, result to only the professionals.

Apparently Magicap was unprofessional at best and incompetent at worst, perhaps she was wrong in not attempting to design her own home.

"-Granger."

The voice brought Hermione out of her musings. Immediately her hand froze in its exploration of her bag. She knew that voice. Startled, her eyes flickered up to the chair opposite her. This time instead of seeing the black back of the seat, a chiselled face with enticing grey eyes and tousled blonde hair stared back at her.

_This explains their incompetence; they have the king of ineptitude leading them. _

"Malfoy" She uttered, her voice carefully neutral.

They both stared at each other, carefully concealing their emotions. Draco did it because he had been brought up to do so and had been doing so since then; Hermione did it because she honestly did not know how she felt about facing him here. Sure he did help their cause in the end, and she was a creature who believed in second chances; however Draco Malfoy was a different entity altogether.

"I didn't know you were an architect." Hermione finally uttered breaking the silence between them.

"Terribly newfangled thing Granger, it is called a job. You would find that 89% of the population has one. Though given the amount of time you spent with the Weasleys, it is clear why you may think otherwise."

Hermione took in a breath and tightened her fists. Nobody ever condescended to her. Malfoy managed to do that and insult her friends at one go. All thoughts of her offering the olive branch or any neutrally cordial gesture went out the window.

"My mistake. I never realized that lollygagging and bullying were the sole requirements to become an architect here, or perhaps you bought your way up and are content with chaperoning incompetent fools. After all, isn't that your forte?"

Draco's face betrayed no emotion but his temper flared briefly. He had forgotten how utterly annoying and infuriating this witch she-bitch could be.

"Regrettably Granger, you will never get to experience the position of being in-charge and of course it is not expected for you to even _understand_ the perks of being an architect."

Internally Hermione fumed, mainly because what Draco said was blatantly and cruelly true. The current wizarding society was still too backward to accept a female muggleborn to hold any head positions. Currently she herself was deputy mistress for international relations and had been told to her face that she could be promoted no further unless she chose to switch ministry and start from the bottom rung all over again.

Draco was not fazed by her non-comment and continued.

"For example, who would have known that you were the shag me and dump me type?"

Draco watched her face to see how far he could push her. Engaging Hermione like this was amusing to say the least. For one thing, she actually gave as well as she got, unlike many others, and it was actually stimulating if he was to be perfectly honest. He knew she had a concealed vindictive side that he loved to bring out; it was somewhat enjoyable to see that the golden trio were not as perfect as they were made out to be and Hermione was not the naïve girl that they intended for her to remain.

Hermione chose to ignore Draco Malfoy. It had succeeded before, it will succeed again and if worse came to worst she could leave and find another company to trust her house with. Though she highly doubted it. She had done her homework and despite what she had said earlier, Magicap was the best. Malfoy may be a rude bastard but he was, grudgingly admitted, a smart and perfection vying rude bastard.

She pulled out her papers and straightened them on the table.

"So is it Potter's or Weasel's?" He questioned briefly. Surprisingly he saw a flash of fear and _pain_ fly across her face. He sat back, puzzling over this slightly disturbing piece of information.

"They don't know." He whispered softly. Hermione's eyes flickered to his and held them. To say that Draco was intrigued was an understatement. He read people very well, that was his forte. It had saved his life numerous times and he had perfected the art into a niche. Granger to everyone else was a puzzle. She mastered her emotions and schooled them around most except her treasured friends. To them she was a blatant open book to any who chose to study her. Very few did. However, years with her in school and two with the Order made it almost impossible for him not to do so.

He would admit she was strikingly brilliant and fierily passionate about all she undertook, he appreciated it in his own little way. However she had her flaws, and it went beyond simply being the annoying know-it-all that she was labelled as. Hermione was a firm believer of friendship, so much so that she trusted Harry and Ron with everything. He knew they abused this privilege; countless times they chose to protect and almost mollycoddle her and her brilliant mind. It was a waste to have her sent on petty assignments, while the doddering duo attempted to take on more serious work without her tutelage. He knew she was frustrated, but till the end she kept at their side. Their apparent chivalry and hero complexes smothered a fantastic mind and also carved Hermione into an oblivious and almost annoyingly moralistic woman.

Now Granger was acting completely out of her perceived character. She had a secret which Potty and Weasel were not privy on.

Draco sighed and sat back in his chair, never taking his eyes off the witch in front of her.

"How old is he?"

Hermione breathed out and studied him. She knew something had changed in the last minute but she was not entirely sure what it was. A bitter part of her was still seething at the comments Malfoy had hurled at her, how he had deduced the truth so easily in a matter of seconds was also very alarming.

_This is not a good idea._

For a moment Hermione allowed herself a lapse. She began to think. Malfoy was too connected, no doubt the word would get out. Pathetic really, a secret she had successfully kept for a week, and had promised to keep till the conditions of the will were fulfilled, was blurted out in a moment of irritation and to the worst possible person. Perhaps she could sell him the lie she had been feeding his employees, and hope to salvage the situation.

_I can do this. I can do this for Hayden._

Draco watched as another flash of pain flew across her face before she suddenly schooled it and adorned a confident expression. She fiddled slightly with her papers before turning her face up to his. The transformation was complete, the women who sat before him was now the Hermione Granger which he liked to call ganz natürlich. Hermione Granger now stared back at him with a calm smile and sparkling brown eyes which radiated professionalism, confidence and collectiveness.

"Malfoy, as a professional, I am sure you can conduct yourself in what befits a simple business transaction; after which we can both go on to hating each other in solitude and you will have the added satisfaction of knowing that _I _came to_ you_ to seek your services."

Malfoy almost smirked. Granger was playing all the right tunes; she had almost stroked his ego and had successfully tempted his Slytherin nature. Off course her unintended sexual innuendo made it hard not to reply with a scathing comment, but he wanted to find out this great big secret and hence was almost willing to go along with her faux professional relationship.

"Certainly Granger, now if you could tell me a bit about your son."

Hermione breathed in and then rattled off the lie she had intended to feed the architect. She had rehearsed it, already prepared for the questions the architect could ask. Anyone else would have bought it, unfortunately none of the lesser architects could even get around to asking that question and now she was left telling Malfoy.

"My son's name is Jake, he is 6 years old and 4 months-"

"Stop."

Hermione's heart jumped to her mouth. Certainly he could not tell she was lying, she had not even begun telling the untruths!

"You had a son before the war?"

Hermione rolled her eyes as her heart returned to its slightly higher than normal rate.

"No, Jake was the son of my close friend. She passed away two days ago and now her son, her son is living with me." Hermione uttered breathlessly.

Draco studied her. He could tell the raw anguish in her voice when she spoke of her friend, so certainly something terrible had happened to her. However when it came to mentioning the date of passing, Hermione's eyes glanced away slightly and she bit on her lower lip. If he did not know her that would have easily passed as emotion of remembering her friend's death, however to Draco that screamed that she was lying.

He nodded vaguely giving no inkling of his thoughts. Waving he brought a quill and parchment flying to his desk.

"Your son, is he pureblood, halfblood or muggleborn?"

If Hermione was not trying to be civil or fighting her nerves, she would have commented on Malfoy's preoccupation with blood. However trying to avoid this tricky question took her thoughts away from everything else.

"Does it matter?" She did not have to fake her irritation.

"Yes. A child's raw magic is dependent on his heritage."

Hermione did recall reading something along those lines. She faltered slightly.

"He is a halfblood, however would it not be more prudent to equip the house to facilitate all forms, he will bring friends over."

True. In fact blood was not a problem at Magicap, they had long migrated away from using that as a marker for the type of wards and charms to place. That question was merely for his personal benefit, she was lying and something told him that Granger's son was a pureblood. Reaching across the table, Draco picked up the small folio of documents Hermione had brought in with her.

She had done her research well and he expected no less. Information that architects would take a week or so to compile was now sitting obediently in his hand. Almost idly Draco's hand flipped to the page of biographies. There were two pages, one for Hermione and the second for her son. His eyes flipped to the accompanying photograph of her son and his jaw clenched.

_Impossible._

Again he studied the photograph. The eye colour and hair were different; it was an easy spell to alter on the photograph, however there was no mistaking the face and the candid smile he shot at Draco. Frowning openly Draco immediately scanned the data provided of the child's magic fluctuations. It was high and cultured, all the more enforcing his theory.

A silent rage built in Draco. He wanted answers and he was going to get them now.

"Granger. Let us be honest with each other."

Hermione froze and then tightened her jaw. "I would expect you to be honest in this transaction." She stated calmly.

_Lying little hypocrite._

Draco flipped his wand twice around his office. It was a self designed security system, immediately all animagus in their animal form would be forced to transform, polyjuice would be ineffective and above all it ensured that nothing said in the room would be heard by anyone except the two of them.

"I did not realize my housing plans required such secrecy Malfoy." Hermione uttered carefully. She had recognized the spell when he cast it, it was slightly modified but the fundamental was there. Immediately she fingered her wand under her robe.

Draco eyed her, taking in all of her for the first time. Surprisingly his subconscious noted that she looked tired, drawn almost haggard. He waved up a cup of tea to her side; he would prefer truthful answers, something she would only give if she were drugged or if she trusted him. The latter did not seem to be happening anytime soon.

"What is this?" She questioned uncertainly. Draco raised a singular eyebrow; her trust would be near impossible to gain.

"It is tea Granger. You drink it"

Hermione frowned. "That is evident Malfoy. I meant why are _you_ giving _me_ tea?"

"Common decency."

"Which seemingly always escapes you in my presence."

Draco smirked lightly, before reaching across the table and taking a sip of Hermione's drink.

"Satisfied?"

"What's the fourth ingredient for the pepper up potion?" Hermione questioned. She was not going to take any risks with any form of the truth serum.

"Unicorn's blood." Draco almost rolled his eyes in exasperation. One day he would most definitely kill this witch.

Hermione nodded and took a sip of the tea. It calmed her nerves and soothed her throat from the yelling she had dished out on his employees.

"What do you know of Hayden Kintch?"

Hermione's eyes widened. _Oh Merlin. He knew._

Then suddenly, as if her tongue was operating on its own, it began to rattle off answers. "Hayden Kintch is 6 years old and four months. His favourite colour is blue. He likes to read anything and everything especially Muggle poems. His birthday is on January 14th and he wants a-"

"Stop."

Hermione's mouth snapped shut, before her face morphed into one of pure fury.

"You _poisoned _me!"

As if sensing her next move, Malfoy immediately disarmed her and vanished her wand. Hermione stared back at him, seething.

"On the contrary, it was not poisoning. You simply chose to forget that I am immune to mild forms of the truth potion and willingly drank the tea. As much as we can debate this issue I prefer to get to more important things. You will sit down and answer me or I will bind you and question you on the intimate details of your insignificant life before moving on to the task at hand."

"You would never." Hermione's next plan of action was to wait out the effects of the potion and drag out their conversation into meaningless arguing. Apparently Draco pre-empted that and did not rise to the bait.

"Why is Hayden living with you?"

"I don't know actually, I think it all started back in university. I went to-"

"Where are Ariel and Caleb?"

Hermione's entire face fell. "They are dead." She uttered monotonously before glaring up at Draco as if taunting him to continue the interrogation.

His reaction was entirely unexpected. He suddenly ran his fingers through his hair. "Oh Merlin" he whispered before collapsing into his chair only to jump up and start pacing the room.

"How?"

"I don't know." Hermione whispered the anguish tingeing her words.

"Why was I not informed? The will, the reading and Hayden… oh Morgana." Hermione could barely hear what Malfoy was murmuring under his breath. Then suddenly it clicked, everything fell into place, Hermione's mind whirred at the implications and she let out a soft exclamation of shock.

Draco's head swivelled to her as he heard her exclamation.

"What is it Granger?"

"You. You're his Godfather." She uttered simply, the potion still in effect.

Draco breathed in. This was real. Nobody else knew except for Ariel, Caleb and their son Hayden of course.

Hermione's mind was overdrive. This changed everything.

"We need to talk."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. If she were not here right now, she would have found a flustered Malfoy entirely amusing. However the moot point was that this was happening and for Hayden she had to try, for Aria and Caleb she promised them to.

"Where is Hayden?"

"My place." Hermione uttered. Draco nodded. He had composed himself after a rare moment of lapse and he had seen that Granger had held herself well. She was calm, collected and above all evidently loved Hayden enough to forget their tense and dysfunctional relationship.

"The muggle pad?"

Hermione nodded. Conversation was better facilitated between the two if they dealt with the facts and schooled their emotions. She would ponder over why he even knew that piece of information later.

Draco seemed to be thinking likewise as he curbed his tongue from shooting any derogatory remarks of her living choice. He retrieved her wand from wherever he sent it to and handed it to her. Hermione nodded once, almost in thanks.

_Thanks for returning my wand that you stole?_

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Being cordial with Malfoy was a foreign and almost difficult task. Nevertheless she tightened her hand around Malfoy's arm, applying a bit more force than required before apparating home.

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a/n: So it has been a long time and I decided to come back to this and try a new story. Do let me know what you think; hopefully this would stay a bit more true to the Hermione and Draco interaction. xx


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All Harry Potter related characters, places and themes belong to J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury and Scholastic.

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**Seemingly Debatable**

_Chapter Two_

"Hayden!" Hermione called out, although she knew there would be no answer. The child had only given monosyllabic answers to pressing questions and the rest he ignored. She spent a few sleepless nights worrying about Hayden's apathy. It was understandable, but still as a guardian for the child, she worried.

"Hayden." Draco's voice rang out through the house and seconds later there was a startled sound from the room behind them. Both Hermione and Draco turned to head towards the door before it was pulled inwards and a blonde head peered out.

"Uncle Draco." He uttered in delight before flinging himself at Draco's legs. Hermione could do nothing but stare; she had not seen Hayden this happy since she had picked him up. In a fluid motion Hayden was in Draco's arms and he was holding the child dearly.

"Take me to my mummy and daddy." He uttered suddenly as his eyes lit with delight. Draco heard Hermione's intake of breath. "Aunt Hermione said I couldn't visit them because they are with grandpa and grandma. You have a broom. You can take me. Take me now!" Hayden suddenly wailed clutching Draco's shirt tightly.

"Hayden, I can't." Draco uttered softly. Hayden glared at him before squirming tightly in his hands. "Let me go! I hate you! Why can't you take me to see them? I want to see them and I've been good and I- I hate you! Stop holding me!" Hayden squirmed violently trying to jump out of Draco's arms. Not wanting to hurt the child he lowered himself and placed him on the ground.

Hayden glared at him. "I want my parents. I want them now! Now now now! I- Why did they have to go? I didn't do anything wrong! I ate my vegetables and everything; I was a good boy. I want them back noww." Hayden wailed bursting into a fit of tears. Draco hesitated, and Hermione was immediately there.

Hurriedly she gathered Hayden in her arms. This was the first time Hayden had cried since their funeral last week. It was a good improvement for him to finally show and vent his feelings, however what he had said had greatly bothered her.

"Hayden, your parents didn't leave us because of you, honey. I bet they would have given anything to still be with you right now-"

"Then how come they can't come back?"

"That's because they are unable to do that, Hayden. It's not that they don't want to; your parents love you immensely, but sometimes in life we lose the ones we love. It does not mean that our love for them weakens or is broken. As long as they always remain in your heart, they will be loved and they will live on in our memories, forever."

"But I miss them." Hayden whispered leaning on Hermione's shoulder as she stroked his back in a soothing fashion. He had expended his energy and was now falling asleep.

"I miss them so much." He uttered softly before the weight against Hermione's shoulder increased and Hayden's breathing slowed. "I miss them too dear. I miss them too." Hermione whispered softly before ghosting a kiss on his forehead. She turned around to place him in his room, staggering slightly under his weight.

"Here let me." Draco uttered in an almost kind gesture as he retrieved Hayden from Hermione's arms. Without another word he strode into the room that Hayden had arrived from and placed him on the queen sized bed. Hermione watched him from the doorway as his hands gently brushed his blonde hair away from his face. Wanting to give him some time alone, from the earlier display it was evident that Hayden trusted him and hence she trusted him around Hayden, Hermione softly closed the door and stepped back into her living room.

With a hint of exhaustion she settled into her sofa. She closed her eyes. It was all moving so fast, first the death of her two good friends, the arrival of Hayden into her life and then Malfoy's sudden addition to the equation. As if sensing her thoughts, the couch dipped as Malfoy sank into it.

Her eyes flipped open and they both stared at each other. It was certainly awkward. After the little stint with Hayden it was hard to actually hate Malfoy knowing that he was not the cold-hearted asshole she had believed him to be. Neither was willing to speak, afraid that any attempt at conversation would escalate to a full blown argument which they were both known for and that was the last thing they wanted Hayden to wake up to.

Draco allowed a glance around the London apartment. "I see why you wanted a new place Granger." He murmured. Hermione did not reply. To be frank she was too tired to jump into another fight, all she wanted was to discuss the terms of the will, Malfoy's involvement and get some much needed rest.

"How did you know Caleb and Ariel?"

"Family friends, and you?"

"I met Ariel in university and Caleb worked with me." She had brightened her year at university and he had made all Ministry events very interesting with his carefully concealed jibes and insults at lesser ministers.

"When did they die?" He questioned softly. It was real pain, raw and emotion charged; it hurt to know that his closest friends were dead.

"Last week. The Lawyer contacted me to say that Ariel had left Hayden in my care and that his Godfather would come collect him in three days; after the formal reading of the will."

Draco sat up and frowned.

"Come with me." He uttered and without further ado grabbed Hermione's arm and apparated. Hermione stumbled slightly as they entered into what appeared to be a richly adorned study. She shook her head trying to quell her exhaustion and queasiness, in that time Malfoy had crossed the room and returned with a rolled parchment.

"This is a copy of their will, there is not much to it, they left everything to Hayden. Granger, I was never contacted of their death."

Hermione's fingers deftly enrolled the parchment and she skimmed through it. He was right, everything was left to Hayden and Draco was to oversee the estate till he was of age. Hermione's name was there; she was to receive several books from their library and was also identified as the second guardian of Hayden, should anything happen to Malfoy. At the bottom of the will were four signatures, Ariel, Caleb's, the lawyer's as well as Malfoy's as a witness.

"The lawyer said he was going to inform you after I came to collect Hayden, I received this letter last week and that's how I found out."

Hermione retrieved a letter from her pocket. It was crumpled and the ink was smudged from her tears. Draco flattened it on his mahogany desk and deciphered the familiar scrawl. It was straightforward yet heart warming, it told or moreover begged Hermione to take care of Hayden until his Godfather could collect him and spoke of their love and gratitude. There was an added clause that Hermione should not let out that Hayden was in her care unless his Godfather permitted otherwise. Both Caleb and Ariel had signed it.

"It was a timed post, the instructions were to receive me on their death."

Draco ran his fingers through his hair. Something was missing, why on earth was he not informed. Ariel and Caleb had made it explicitly clear that Hayden was his responsibility if they were gone, even Granger's letter pointed to that, however then why was he not informed.

"We should see the lawyer. Something is not right if you were not called on, let alone aware." Hermione uttered taking charge of the situation in her usual fashion. Malfoy shook his head. He knew the game; if the lawyer had not contacted him it was because he could not.

"Granger, how much do you know of the Kintch history?"

Hermione shook her head. One of the many reasons why Malfoy was placed as Hayden's Godfather was not only because he was their close friend but also because he knew the intimate history of the family. It was not a pleasant one. Littered with power struggles and assassinations, Caleb had been very lucky to escape the clutches of death numerous times and to also lead a normal and happy life with his loving wife.

"We're bringing Hayden here."

Hermione nodded. There was something that Malfoy was not telling her, that much was evident, but the worry in his tone was enough for her to hold her questions and take his arm to apparate.

Minutes later Hayden was in Draco's arms and he prepared to apparate home. Suddenly Hermione's arm on his arm stopped him.

"I'm coming with you." She uttered, leaving no room for questioning, he nodded noncommittally and apparated the two of them to his manor. Hermione followed him as he placed Hayden delicately in one of the numerous spare bedrooms. As they shut the door behind them another silence rose between them.

"Perhaps this discussion is more suited for the morning." Draco uttered as his eyes once again swept over the sorry figure of Hermione Granger. She was slumped against the corridor wall one hand massaging her temples and a petulant frown etched across her features. The dim lighting of the corridor casted shadows under her eyes and played up the exhaustion lining her face.

Hermione held up a hand to give him a minute. He raised his eyebrow but that gave him another chance to observe her unnoticed. Slowly he withdrew to his thoughts. What could come from this? Granger was a wild card, a completely unrelated character drawn into the situation through her connection with Hayden. Perhaps Caleb had the foresight to place Hayden in her care, nobody would think to look for him with Granger. If possible nobody, not even the master puppeteers of the scheme, knew that he was with Granger since Hayden had remained safe in her care for the past week.

"I think Mister Wilbur is dead." Draco's face shot up as his eyes reached Hermione's. She was no longer massaging her temples but instead her face had taken a paler shade.

"And how do you know of this?"

"I don't. He did not turn up at the funeral; he was supposed to reveal the identity of Hayden's godfather then and as a lawyer he does not strike me as a man to forgo such an appointment without notice."

Draco silently appraised her logic before his brows narrowed.

"How did you notify him of the funeral?"

"Muggle post."

Draco raised an eyebrow.

"It was pre-decided, and I believe more secure."

That explained why Hayden was safe with Granger, purebloods were too stubborn to educate themselves of muggle culture and would remain blindingly oblivious to their forms of communication.

"We should visit him to ensure that he is alright, do you know where he lives?"

Draco almost growled in frustration. Just when it seemed almost plausible to hold a conversation with Granger her ugly Gryffindor head had to rear itself. Did she not understand that Hayden's safety was all that mattered now?

"Visiting a dead man is not my priority."

"You don't know that he is actually dead Malfoy!"

_That uncompassionate, insensitive and ruthless cad!_

"We know that it is a high possibility. Feel free to walk into his house, I may enjoy the pleasure that I would never have to deal with your presence again."

"You are utterly pathetic." Hermione uttered and with that she disapperated.

Draco's eyes widened as he stared at the place where Hermione formerly stood.

_Off all the stupidity…_

He snapped his fingers once.

"Yes Sir?"

"Mole, I want you to watch Hayden if he wakes up, contact me. Tell Monty to monitor the wards and if anything suspicious crops up get me immediately."

"Yes Sir"

He concentrated on Granger and apparated. This was a bonus from the war; they had trained together so much so that they were able to apparate to the location of a person rather than a specific location. Fortunately only Granger had the capability to attain a mirror relationship so he did not have to put up with any of the other Order members or Potter and Weasley apparating to him on whim.

He arrived in a muggle street. Thankfully he had the foresight to don his invisibility cloak, and was unnoticed. Meters beyond him, he spotted Granger entering a building. Without alerting her of his presence, he followed her.

"Excuse me I would like the personal information of the owner of post box 287."

"I am sorry miss, we are not allowed to disclose such information."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes- oh. No. Let me pull out that file for you miss."

That conniving little witch, he had just witnessed Granger perform an intrinsic bit of Legilimency. Minutes later Hermione was holding onto Mr. Wilbur's address and was walking into a back alley. No doubt to feed herself to the lions, Draco mused.

She apparated and he followed seconds later, already aware of Mr. Wilbur's abode.

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a/n: Chapter 2 is up! Do let me know if the interaction is moving too fast or any other comments you might have, cheers! xx


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